Becker & Fagen didn't sack the rest of the band in 74 because they "kinda sucked" - they were all superb musicians. Becker & Fagen decided to stop touring, because they hated it. Party animals Baxter and Hodder said "we're outta here!" They knew they were gonna miss the groupies and the touring lifestyle, and besides they needed income from touring as they weren't song writers. Baxter joined the Doobie Bros, and I'm not sure where Hodder went. Denny Dias stayed on as a session musician, though Becker and Fagen made less and less and less use of his skills on successive albums, instead bringing in a range of other guitarists.
100% correct, though I believe that Hodder continued to do session work with other artists before his death in 1990. Also, the "kinda sucked" line was mostly just a jab at Pretzel Logic since it's my least favorite SD album. Not to say that it actually sucks (since I still think that PL is pretty good) or that the band sucked at the time (since I definitely agree that they were phenomenal musicians, especially in concert), it's just a bit of exaggeration for the sake of humor.
Pretzel isn't one of my favourites either, though I'll take any Dan album over just about anything else. I'll admit my first reaction to Babylon Sisters and Hey 19 was one of dismay - three years' wait for this! But the album grew on me eventually, and Glamour Profession is just inexhaustible - despite the repetitive chords that you mentioned.
The truth is that they did think that the band kind of sucked, even though it didn't. Hodder is way better on drums than they ever gave him credit for. And the funny part is that after Gaucho, they went to strictly minimalist uncreative drum beats... but they were doing the same thing Zappa was constantly doing, trying to get better musicians to play their music.
@@ceddyharris6340 This is the album they had created a drum machine. One never existed before. They supposedly wanted to create many different drum sounds for the album.
@@DingusTheKid I too agree that Pretzel Logic is their worst album. They used too many old songs to fill out the album. Old songs that others like but sound second rate to me.
Glamour profession is super repetitive but it’s just so damn good when it hits right that I don’t even want it to end. Gotta blast the fuck outta that song
Yeah, it's one of my fav's of all time. I always wondered why they never seemed to play it when I saw them (correct me if I'm wrong) on tour when Walter was alive? Then it seemed that as soon as Donald went out on his own as Steely Dan, it became a regular on the setlist.
Thank you. I loved this album as soon as I bought it and listened. While Ajá is still my favourite, Gaucho is absolute perfection. To this day, I enjoy listening. Your review is thoughtful and a pleasure. Your insights give me reasons to listen yet again.
I go back and forth between Aja and Gaucho as my all time favourite. They are very different albums, but both unmistakebly Dan at their peak. Some people complain about Gaucho being too slick, but there is something about that particular early 80's west coast aesthetic that scratches a certain itch for me. The super clean production works perfectly against the imigary in the lyrics that describe shady people living seemingly glamourus interesting lives (but not really). I think Gaucho might be my favourite by a hair at the moment.
Gaucho wasn’t so much slicker as it was musically simpler. Listen to Aja and you’ll notice that each instrument is doing something different, but complimentary. On Gaucho, guitars play in sync, for instance with bass laying down a syncopated line that is often synced with the drums. In other words, Gaucho could be called Steely Dan’s version of elevator music.
Both great records, but I'd put 'The Royal Scam' in that category as well. Also, 'Katy Lied'. SD's entire catalogue is so good that it is hard, for me at least, to pick a single favorite album.
Glamour Profession has an effect on me that I can never fully grasp, much less explain. I can literally feel my brain release pleasure chemicals and I’m aware of them as they spread throughout.
Gaucho was my introduction to Steely Dan. It was my first love, and always will be. Aja is close, but still second. My only regret is that I found them too late in life.
I saw someone had put a top ten album of all time up the other day and it didn't have a Dan record in it. Honestly - if I had to make a list every one would be a Steely Dan album with Gaucho and Aja at no.1 and 2. They are simply the best every and i‘m so blessed to have been able to enjoy their music for the last 40 odd years
My 2 main memories associated to this LP. first, we were on our honeymoon when we found a great radio station that had advance copy. played lots of it and it was so cool. second is a few years later, my 3 year old daughter singing along to Babylon Sisters and that little girl shaking everything she didn't have. I love steely dan.
11 years old.. Road trip to Florida.. riding in the camper on the back of dads pickup. Listening to stuff we taped off of American Top 40. Came across Hey Nineteen. Something about it. We listened to that song over and over and over again. We even knew exactly how long it took to rewind the cassette! 😂
Yeah it really sounds great! I love the guitar playing from Larry Carlton and also the synth part at the end sounds super lush. And of course the layered vocals from Donald are really top notch on this track!
It was not overwhelmingly underrated at the time. The album received 3 Grammy nominations. Also, Carlton and Gadd were both highly sought-after session musicians in the 70s and beyond.
Among all their albums this is my fave…maybe it was where I was in my life at the time of release, but it is so polished and clean with such memorable songs
Gaucho is most likely my favourite album; it was the first full Steely Dan album I heard as a 15-year old kid almost 35 years ago, so it holds a special place in my heart. Is it the best album of all time? Probably not, I can think of some incredible albums that would challenge that title; Jellyfish - Spilt Milk, The Beatles - Rubber Soul, Pink Floyd - DSOTM, Fleetwood Mac - Rumours to name but a few that are definitely up there as the best that the LP format has to offer. Is it the best Steely Dan album? Nah, that's Aja. And deep down you know it is. 😉
I've been a huge fan of Steely Dan since 1971. They're my favorite band behind The Beatles. The evolution of their music from "Can't Buy A Thrill" to "Gaucho" has been so enjoyable to experience through the years. I would wait for the record store to open so I could get in and get their latest release. I loved every album they released. However, my taste is the Royal Scam is their best album. I loved the guitar, drums and bass driven sound of that album. I also loved the tunes and especially the lyrics. Gaucho is an excellent album with great tunes and lyrics as well. I miss the drums and lead guitar work on Gaucho and Aja. I still listen to every album of theirs and Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly". Wonderful memories through the years.
I am like others, Steely Dan fills much of music listening bandwidth the older I get. For decades I listened to all of Steely Dan's most popular songs. However, as I have more time to enjoy the other songs I find them as impressive as their biggest hits. I always like Aja, the song, now I absolutely love it. Time out Mind, as controversial as it is, is still an amazing song. Third World Man is almost prophetic. My Old School. I could go on. The "Lost Steely Dan" album that proceeded "Gaucho" was as retold in "Night Fly" was lost by a maintenance engineer and once Donald Fagan was told, he simply turned around and walked out of the studio. Can you imagine? The music that was lost will never be heard, what a loss. Well, some good news, The Second Arrangement (at least a version without lyrics) has finally been found and one can only imagine and hope that Donald decides to add his magic to it.
If Gaucho is so good, why isn't there a Gaucho 2? Huh? Oh, Donald Fagen's Nightfly? Yeah, okay, maybe Gaucho *is* so good I'm happy that I can now add another Dan video into my Dan binging. Thanks, Dingus!
Thank you for confirming something I've been saying for years; always been my favourite album and the title track the best song on it. Don't really care what the lyrics mean; I just love to sing along to the whole masterpiece that is Gaucho!
I'll definitely give this video a 'like'. With "Glamour Profession" being appreciated because, it's my personal favorite song by Steely Dan. However, the breakdown/explained opinion for the rest of the "Gaucho" album is an added bonus.
Honestly, having listened through Steely Dan's discography dozens of times, all of their live performances, and a number of their bootlegs/demos, my favorite album, the one I keep coming back to, is Two Against Nature, which I did not expect at all. Gaucho is up there for sure, but something about that album... every song is perfect, and it's just such a fantastic return to form. Almost Gothic, Jack of Speed, What a Shame About Me, Negative Girl, they're all so good, and that album has my most played Dan songs on it by quite a long shot. Anyway, just wanted to put that opinion out there, since I think it's lumped in with Everything Must Go (although even that album, their worst in my opinion, has some bangers) and it doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Also that live performance of it is fantastic too.
God bless you for making steely Dan content so that die hard gen z steely Dan fans like myself have something to comfort ourselves with while mourning the past nature of the days of steely dan
Your are just right.....After 40 years I still revisit this regularly. My most listened to album. Vinyl...half speed vinyl...cd...dvd audio 5.1....and my favourite...sacd surround....and finally hd streaming. Go .go go
When this album came out I was working as a waiter at a place in NYC. During our shift we would sneak out for some fine Colombian and Finlandia 5:11 bloody Mary’s. And have this epic LP playing in the background. Have always felt this was one of the best sounding of all time.
While we're on the topic of under-rated Steely Dan, I just listened carefully for the first time to the title and final track of Everything Must Go. It's incredible - one of those SD tracks that have endless genius details that require repeated listenings. As far as ending an album and a career in a brilliant and perfect way, this track fits nicely in that category alongside the Abbey Road medley. What are some other great career finales?? I mean, Bach's Art of Fugue and Mozart's Requiem, but what other rock artists have tremendous "series finales"?
Such a great song. Not a fan of the entire album, but that song is absolutely perfect. I might mention Roxy Music? True To Life with one final, sumptuously romantic instrumental (Tara) tacked on as a farewell.
Man, this was really good. I was a major Steely Dan fan in the 70s. I graduated high school in 1980, so I had no idea there was a followup to Aja. Dammm- So there’s a new album to check out. Nice.
Number of times I’ve regretted loading this album: 0. I have a Dan playlist that is just Aja and Gaucho. I saw one of the duo’s last reunion tours in NYC at the Beacon. Aja in chrono order the first night (followed by whatever they felt like playing), then Gaucho the next night. Ecstasy.
Interesting choice, a case can definitely be made. Regardless of whether you agree or not, there are several well-established facts about the band named after a portable boyfriend. 1) I find that almost all of Steely Dan's music holds up extremely well in the long run. 2) Becker and Fagen were/are MONSTER musicians. 3) There is no other band quite like them. 4) Even if you disagree, anyone with functioning ears that can match pitch and keep a beat would agree that at the minimum this album should be in everyone's top 50 list. If you're doing the desert island thing and you can bring only 30 albums, Gaucho is probably one of two Steely Dan discs I would bring along with Aja. Now some people have really distinct and specific tastes in music, the heart wants what the heart wants at the end of it. So there is a certain amount of lightning in a bottle that the band captured which is difficult to argue against. Oddly and specifically, I have to say that my #1 is Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation. After that, man I can't justify the rest of the top 10 until i get to the Goreckyj Symphony #3 (5) Sorrowful Songs and Arvo Part (6) shortly next. I confess that I get into a few late Beatles: Revolver, (#7) White Album (#8), Abbey Road, (#9) a couple U2s, Joshua Tree (#3) and Unforgettable Fire (#4), maybe Vertigo (10). NIN's the Fragile is probably #2. There's something enduring about Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, maybe #11 or so. Then maybe a little Shoegaze, probably Ride's Nowhere (12) and Galaxie 500's On Fire (13). Then I start getting into the Deep Techno, probably Luigi Tozzi's Cohuatl (15). Maybe a little Mazzy Star (19). Then I'd go all 3 Portishead records (16,17, 18). The top 20 is pretty well spoken for, indisputably at the least I'm going with Gaucho at #14. Somewhere around #20 I'd put the Britten War Requiem, about #21, the Mozart Requiem, around #22 the Verdi Requiem. For some reason all the stuff I'm listing holds up to repeated listens, give them a second try. About 23 probably a little pop-punk, maybe some Alice, more NIN- Pretty Hate Machine around #26.....for some Zest maybe a little Death Grips. Then I'd say prepared piano by Cage, Cowell, a few others. Probably the Beethoven #9, a little Wagner- Parsifal. .....Definitely Aja before we get to 30, probably #28. About 29, 30 I'd sneak in some Unloved. About 32 maybe some Eagles, a little Journey. Some Simon and Garfunkel. Probably the order is fairly loose, any cutoff before about 30 albums is unacceptable.
Pound for pound and in respect of the blood (or bone in the case of WB’s complex fracture) sweat and tears shed in its creation, it is their best album, an enduring masterpiece of popular music.
Yep, fully agree... And, I'm not even that much of a fan of their albums, but I *REALLY* love this one! I too feel the arrangements and compositions are, yes, basically perfect. The sound is reference quality too. Pretending to be an Audiophile for over 40 years, I would have to say that this album as a 'normal' release is easily of Demo quality.
Hey bee-itch, thanks a lot for pointing out that drop-out at 1.20... the song will never be the same again. Anyway, a life-long Dan-fan here who has just discovered your channel. Fantastic documentary, I'm with you 90% on your assessment brother.
Though I did when I was younger (19?) I don’t hear creeper on Hey Nineteen. I hear aging and I dare say maturity. I hear appreciating the “beauty” of a young woman, but the realization that they’ve nothing in common and it’s best just to watch and enjoy the view.
This song represents that he was a senior in college at the time "I was a dandy Gamma Khi" frat guy. Sweet things from Boston (freshman girls at the age of 18 or 19) Donald had already out-grown them intellectually by 22 or 23.
Also, I know people like to classify the song “Glamour Profession” as “disco“, but I’d like to argue that it’s really more of a “world lounge” style (before world lounge even existed). People also like to bag on Glamour Profession for being “yacht rock”, but that was before yacht rock ever existed, so if one invents the genre, it can’t really be classified that way, can it? Harmonically, it’s so far ahead of its time that it STILL sounds futuristic over 50 years after it was released. The chord changes are just otherworldly and complex, yet still sound somehow. “repetitive“ to the untrained ear.
First time hearing this (Glamour Prof) I declared "Steely Dan has gone disco!" and swore them off. For a week or two maybe. But Gaucho was not the album that reeled me back in...save for "Hey 19" this album had no allure to me = but because this album/cassette was omni-present, I grew to like Babylon Sisters and Third World Man but felt everything else far below all of their previous albums and songs. Seeing many comments here praising "My Rival" -- what am I missing here?
I met Larry Carlton in Paris. I wondered why he didn't switch to a different instrument. He had learned everything there was to learn on the guitar. As for Gaucho, it arrived during a period of great teenage angst. I was suffering badly from bullies, felt like a Third World Man inside my own life, disembodied and disinterested. I wore out the grooves. Johnny's playroom is a bunker filled with sand. Johnny had war instead of joy for a childhood. I know how Johnny feels. Three friends dead, over the ensuing years, one from abuse by hippie-priest Paul Shanley.
I just listened to Gaucho yesterday !! The title song represents Steely Dan’s finest songwriting ever and yes the album is their best ( not Aja as everyone says) and might be one of the top albums ever indeed. I Don t have the heart to say The Best but close
A close second to AJA. I the aliens ever showed up here to destroy us, I'd send the the AJA title track. They'd pause for a few minutes. Then we'd hear "Perhaps we were a bit hasty. Can we hear some more of that?" Then I'd sent them Home At Last, and soon they'd start solving all of our big problems and welcoming us to their civilizations.
I’m a musician. I play music from the 40s to current songs. Above and beyond, it’s Steely Dan that requires the most outta me to “get right”. I make all my own Backing tracks for my piano solo gigs. All the background vocals etc. transcribing the tracks and mixing. It’s DIFFICULT. The songwriting is so over the top brilliant, performing Steely Dan is a taste of heaven. Above and beyond my favorite collection of music ever made and my favorite concert experience too. If Donald Fagan dies before me, he will take a part of me with him.
While I agree with you that Gaucho is probably the best Steely Dan album except when compared with Aja and The Royal Scam I find it actually hilarious to place "Haitian Divorce" as number 57 and "Ricky Don't loose that number" way down the list... Those are extremely well written from a songwriters perspective and also arranged and produced flawlessly
Hatian Divorce....the first SD tune rhat REALLY haunted me at about age 14. Love it still and everything else of course is made of gold too. I seldom hear anyone profess their love for "Only a Fool Woukd Say That"....another that really gets in my head.
@@boot_leg_ramen_noodle one of those tunes rhat progresses to "zone-out" territory. I always loved the instrumental "outro"....when it changes key and continues to fade out I think was a brilliant move on their part. Brings the reggae vibe into REALLY happy space.... And the fidelity of that recording!!! (Like all their others) is scrumptious! Makes me love the Hi-Fi kit and listening room all the more, despite some of it being 40 years old. ( Bowers and Wilkins DM7 MkII's) driven by SAE separate amplifiers...
I love this style of video where a person comedically gushes about their favorite thing, like an album or movie. While Aja pulls a little bit further on my list of duo era Steely Dan, Gaucho is a technical and modern musical masterpiece. It's a shame songs like The Bear and Second Arrangement didn't make it on the track list, though.
Glamour Profession could very well be my favorite Steely Dan song. Other competing songs are Peg, Janie Runaway, Babylon Sisters, My Old School, Brooklyn, Hey Nineteen........ But to have the first three tracks on an album be amongst your favorites in a band's entire catalogue speaks volumes about the quality of the album. Gaucho and Aja will always be my two favorites. I like to think of them as a trilogy with The Nightfly, which is also a masterpiece.
I am in my 60s and have been a rabid devotee of Don and Walter's approach to music, and I still can't pick a favorite album, because every second that goes by, everything changes and as a part of everything, my feelings are changing as well, and my feelings are what determines how i hear the music, To be honest '"de gustibus non est disputandum". so you are correct with your take on Gaucho.
I've listened to Gaucho so many times that I sometimes dream about it. I once had a dream that I had a young son named Johnny who tragically died seven years ago. He was the first known case of a devastating disease that would go on to decimate 99.9% of the world population (for context, I recently read The Stand by Stephen King and I must have had global apocalypse on my mind). Anyways, in the dream, I was one of the only survivors. I enter my old house and creep upstairs towards Johnny's vacant playroom, where it all began. I open the door and my heart almost stops at what I see. "My god," I whisper, frozen in shock. The entire room is filled, filled with sand. In the center of the room is a heap of sand with some of Johnny's old toys peeking out, but there is something else too. Something white and worn. I brush the sand away and see that it is a small human skull. A wave of dread washes over me, and I know at once that I need to leave this room. Outside the little window of Johnny's playroom, the fireworks show has begun. It is July 4th, 2042, the day Johnny got sick. But...that can't be right. Curiosity gets the best of me as I peer down through the window over the suburban street. I see the neighbors running out from their brightly lit houses, screaming and pointing delightedly at the night sky. Among them is my smiling wife carrying Johnny's newborn sister. My dead wife. I begin to panic. I turn away from the window. I have to leave this house. But the sand...the sand is rising all around me! Soon I am wading through the stuff, desperately clawing my way towards the door to Johnny's playroom. I am too late. As I watch the tiny gap near the top of the door close shut, I know this is the end for me. The last thing I hear is Johnny's distant laughter. And my dying thought: an old saying I once heard from a leading epidemiologist during the onset of the first major outbreaks, some seven years ago. "E l'era del terzo mondo." I never took the time to learn what it meant. At the time, I didn't want to know. But now, in my final breath, it seemed all too clear to me. TLDR: Gaucho is goated it will change your damn worldview man
It's an album that, once you know the backstory, almost shouldn't exist. So much of what was intended got ruined by a ham-fisted engineer. Then there were the legal issues playing out.. But we all know of that. That this album came out as good as it did when you know all that makes it even more special. Best Album Ever Made? Even for a Steely Dan fan like myself, that's a tough one for me. I'm a bit biased when it comes to favourite Steely Dan album though. It's probably Royal Scam, in large part due to how delicious a duo Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie are. Those two underpinning the complex melodic, compositional, chordal and lyrical ideas of Becker and Fagen are some musical moments we're unlikely ever to experience again. Gaucho and Aja are tied as second place, perhaps with Aja edging out Gaucho very slightly due to its lack of a drum machine.
Hmmm. I thought Larry stated the "Were You Blind That Day/Third World Man" came to be at the end of The Royal Scam sessions. There's a short video clip here, on good ol' fashion You Tube, where he states such. I've seen it MANY times. BolsaChicaRadio
Thank you forever for saying what I have been telling everyone since I first heard Gaucho - it is the most perfect album of any genre that I have ever heard. I still listen to it and am still captivated every time. Thank you again - it is wonderful to hear that someone else feels like you do.
Dingus for President! Butt seriously😉I really enjoyed your review! The perfect mixture of seriousness and sarcasm. Gaucho truly is an amazing album, and it does feel like the pinnacle of their artistry laced with a sad twinge of it feeling like it was the beginning of the end. I know many Dan-heads like to gush over the accidentally deleted song “the second arrangement“, but from the outtakes I’ve heard from it, I actually prefer another song that didn’t make it onto the record called Kulee Baba, which to me is a much better song, and one that I wish would’ve made it onto Gaucho. 👍🏼🎸🎹🎼❤️😎
Although Gaucho is not my favorite, it is by far the best sounding CD played on my stereo system. It's so good, you'd swear the band was playing in person in the listening area. How I wish more individuals mixing and recording for THE LISTENER would "get" this in the industry.
I won't debate the quality of this album, or any of their albums. They were always too intelligent for modern radio anyway. The Pulp Fiction lyrics and the wonderful fretwork of Rick Derringer is worth the price of admission. Again, too smart for Jughead programmers of Radio to wrap their heads around. I'm glad that you enjoy this spectacular album as much I have.
This popped in my feed because I just finished listening to Gaucho for the 4000th time. Not in a row, but I listen to SD A LOT. I honestly can't say I dislike anything this band has produced over the years.
I whole-heartedly agree that "Gaucho" by "Steely Dan" is the best album ever made. it's common knowledge and proven fact, even William McKinley said so. (look it up, it's true)
Everyone talks "The Bear" and "Second Arrangement" but I really dig "Kind Spirit" much more. Love all their stuff but will go with "Your Gold Teeth" and "Two Against Nature" as the ones that get me moving the most and both have musical breaks mid song that are out of this world.
I didn’t realise third world man was a scam left over but now you say it I can’t explain how much sense that makes. Great video. Can’t agree with you about my rival… but generally I’m so glad to hear someone lavish praise on this amazing album.
Glamour Profession sounds like something you'd hear playing in a mall in one of those liminal spaces videos. And I mean that in the most positive way possible.
The decisions about what to include and what to leave off of _Gaucho_ were probably determined more by Walter Becker's infirmity than anything else. How else can one explain leaving tracks like "The Bear" and "Kulee Baba" out but including "Third World Man?" Ending _Gaucho_ with "Third World Man" instead of "Heartbreak Souvenir" was fitting: like the 1970s Steely Dan, _Gaucho_ ends with a whimper and leaves the listener wondering what went wrong and what could have been.
Hurrah! Someone else thinks Gaucho is brilliant. I love them all, but Gaucho always hit my sweet spot. Not sure why many Dan fans write it off? I even heard Rick Beato refer to it as: a sloppily tossed together album that was merely made to fulfil contractual agreements!! Rick Beato? Yes. He said exactly that. It's a sublime album. Lyrically my favourite. The tales are of the highest order: Glamour Profession, Babylon Sisters, Gaucho, Third World Man, My Rival. And one can hardly say that the musicianship is sub par. The first song on the album that completely won me over was "My Rival". Thanks for the review 😉
I adore Gaucho. As for it being criticized as artificial, well, that's too priceless for words. It was intentionally artificial sounding. That's SD's brilliance. The apparent superficiality is total musical satire of that wealthy, spoiled west coast scene; slick on the surface, but with little substance underneath.
I was surprised with how good Morph the Cat was. Have not heard in over a year and will probably listen to it tonight>>> "H-Gang" and "That's What I Do' just about as good as anything Fagen has wrote.
@@PanSemSousa I'm glad that you mentioned that album -- I did listen to "Morph the Cat" last night and it sounded great. I don't think I will wait another year to listen to it again.
Gaucho is about a woman and 2 men. The narrator’s wife has brought this gay South American cowboy home and the husband is not thrilled about it. HE is wearing his wife’s clothes after all and SHE wants HIM to sleep over. But at the same time, the husband feels bad for him, because when he drops him off at the freeway, he tells him to “Try again tomorrow.” It would make no sense if it was about 3 men. If the narrator was already married to a man, it would not be noticeable to anyone that the Gaucho was wearing his wives clothes. It would be a guy wearing a guy’s clothes and no big deal at all. No one would even notice and nobody in the Custerdome would care because he was ALREADY married to a man.
Becker & Fagen didn't sack the rest of the band in 74 because they "kinda sucked" - they were all superb musicians. Becker & Fagen decided to stop touring, because they hated it. Party animals Baxter and Hodder said "we're outta here!" They knew they were gonna miss the groupies and the touring lifestyle, and besides they needed income from touring as they weren't song writers. Baxter joined the Doobie Bros, and I'm not sure where Hodder went. Denny Dias stayed on as a session musician, though Becker and Fagen made less and less and less use of his skills on successive albums, instead bringing in a range of other guitarists.
100% correct, though I believe that Hodder continued to do session work with other artists before his death in 1990.
Also, the "kinda sucked" line was mostly just a jab at Pretzel Logic since it's my least favorite SD album. Not to say that it actually sucks (since I still think that PL is pretty good) or that the band sucked at the time (since I definitely agree that they were phenomenal musicians, especially in concert), it's just a bit of exaggeration for the sake of humor.
Pretzel isn't one of my favourites either, though I'll take any Dan album over just about anything else. I'll admit my first reaction to Babylon Sisters and Hey 19 was one of dismay - three years' wait for this! But the album grew on me eventually, and Glamour Profession is just inexhaustible - despite the repetitive chords that you mentioned.
The truth is that they did think that the band kind of sucked, even though it didn't. Hodder is way better on drums than they ever gave him credit for. And the funny part is that after Gaucho, they went to strictly minimalist uncreative drum beats... but they were doing the same thing Zappa was constantly doing, trying to get better musicians to play their music.
@@ceddyharris6340 This is the album they had created a drum machine. One never existed before. They supposedly wanted to create many different drum sounds for the album.
@@DingusTheKid I too agree that Pretzel Logic is their worst album. They used too many old songs to fill out the album. Old songs that others like but sound second rate to me.
God, I wish The Second Arrangement made it onto the album
If I had a time machine...
and Kulee Baba.
@@SteelyF Yeah man skip that hitler guy, do some important stuff
@@jml-rj5re Could be their best song.
@@jml-rj5reAnd “The Bear”. Throw all of those into the mix and it’s just outrageous…
As time rolls on and we get older Steely Dan keeps expanding to fill our musical void.
Well put!
This revelatory comment matches my experience. Also, all other music exists as a palette cleaner for all the SD I listen to (IMO)
good comment
💯Exactly!!
Glamour profession is super repetitive but it’s just so damn good when it hits right that I don’t even want it to end. Gotta blast the fuck outta that song
Yeah, it's one of my fav's of all time. I always wondered why they never seemed to play it when I saw them (correct me if I'm wrong) on tour when Walter was alive? Then it seemed that as soon as Donald went out on his own as Steely Dan, it became a regular on the setlist.
That guitar bit before the piano solo is sonic heroin
Can't believe I hated it for so long. Now wish it was like a 10 minute song.
That's the point: you really understand the greatness of SD when you realise that you want an utterly repetitive song like GP to never end.
Some of their best (weirdest) lyrics on that one. Plus: Anthony Jackson is a bass god.
Thank you. I loved this album as soon as I bought it and listened.
While Ajá is still my favourite, Gaucho is absolute perfection.
To this day, I enjoy listening.
Your review is thoughtful and a pleasure. Your insights give me reasons to listen yet again.
Their 1st one, "Can't Buy a Thrill", is my fave. But it's all good!
Gaucho has been my go-to driving CD for the last decade (along with The Wall by Pink Floyd). One amazing song after another.
The chorus in Gaucho sung by Patti Austin, Valery Simpson and Leslie Miller is breathtaking
You're right, it's an 'alone on an island' album for me, outstanding music. Thanks for all the SD vids you do, love 'em !!
I go back and forth between Aja and Gaucho as my all time favourite. They are very different albums, but both unmistakebly Dan at their peak. Some people complain about Gaucho being too slick, but there is something about that particular early 80's west coast aesthetic that scratches a certain itch for me. The super clean production works perfectly against the imigary in the lyrics that describe shady people living seemingly glamourus interesting lives (but not really).
I think Gaucho might be my favourite by a hair at the moment.
Gaucho wasn’t so much slicker as it was musically simpler. Listen to Aja and you’ll notice that each instrument is doing something different, but complimentary. On Gaucho, guitars play in sync, for instance with bass laying down a syncopated line that is often synced with the drums. In other words, Gaucho could be called Steely Dan’s version of elevator music.
Both great records, but I'd put 'The Royal Scam' in that category as well. Also, 'Katy Lied'. SD's entire catalogue is so good that it is hard, for me at least, to pick a single favorite album.
@@bluegregory6239 You a Dan fan, man?
@@GlennErikMathisen Evidently.
@@bluegregory6239 Even "clearly".
Glamour Profession has an effect on me that I can never fully grasp, much less explain. I can literally feel my brain release pleasure chemicals and I’m aware of them as they spread throughout.
I drove the Chrysler!
Incredible reply. Spot on.
That is me when the repeating vocal line harm kicks in on ‘’my rival’. Lives in my head
"Szechuan dumplings"
Gaucho was my introduction to Steely Dan. It was my first love, and always will be. Aja is close, but still second. My only regret is that I found them too late in life.
How old are you, bro?
@@diegovidal531hey, 19
All of their albums are absolute perfection you just can't pick one
I saw someone had put a top ten album of all time up the other day and it didn't have a Dan record in it. Honestly - if I had to make a list every one would be a Steely Dan album with Gaucho and Aja at no.1 and 2. They are simply the best every and i‘m so blessed to have been able to enjoy their music for the last 40 odd years
Yea probably my favorite of all Steely Dan albums. The title track is just hauntingly beautiful.
and funny! They care they lavish over this two-bit hustler is comic, especially in the chorus
My 2 main memories associated to this LP. first, we were on our honeymoon when we found a great radio station that had advance copy. played lots of it and it was so cool. second is a few years later, my 3 year old daughter singing along to Babylon Sisters and that little girl shaking everything she didn't have. I love steely dan.
11 years old.. Road trip to Florida.. riding in the camper on the back of dads pickup. Listening to stuff we taped off of American Top 40. Came across Hey Nineteen. Something about it. We listened to that song over and over and over again. We even knew exactly how long it took to rewind the cassette! 😂
The instrumental on 'Third World Man' is incredible and highly underrated.
Larry Carlton plays the shit out of it
@@noternunstoned Love Larry ❤, but also Steve Gadd on drums. A masterpiece.
Yeah it really sounds great! I love the guitar playing from Larry Carlton and also the synth part at the end sounds super lush. And of course the layered vocals from Donald are really top notch on this track!
It was not overwhelmingly underrated at the time. The album received 3 Grammy nominations. Also, Carlton and Gadd were both highly sought-after session musicians in the 70s and beyond.
Too bad about the lyrics.
Among all their albums this is my fave…maybe it was where I was in my life at the time of release, but it is so polished and clean with such memorable songs
Gaucho is most likely my favourite album; it was the first full Steely Dan album I heard as a 15-year old kid almost 35 years ago, so it holds a special place in my heart.
Is it the best album of all time? Probably not, I can think of some incredible albums that would challenge that title; Jellyfish - Spilt Milk, The Beatles - Rubber Soul, Pink Floyd - DSOTM, Fleetwood Mac - Rumours to name but a few that are definitely up there as the best that the LP format has to offer.
Is it the best Steely Dan album? Nah, that's Aja.
And deep down you know it is. 😉
Whenever I pull out Gaucho, I have to listen to Aja - and vice versa. Two facets to the same diamond.
I've been a huge fan of Steely Dan since 1971. They're my favorite band behind The Beatles. The evolution of their music from "Can't Buy A Thrill" to "Gaucho" has been so enjoyable to experience through the years. I would wait for the record store to open so I could get in and get their latest release. I loved every album they released. However, my taste is the Royal Scam is their best album. I loved the guitar, drums and bass driven sound of that album. I also loved the tunes and especially the lyrics. Gaucho is an excellent album with great tunes and lyrics as well. I miss the drums and lead guitar work on Gaucho and Aja. I still listen to every album of theirs and Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly". Wonderful memories through the years.
'The Royal Scam' is my favorite SD record, depending on my mood. They never made a bad record.
Sorry but Steely Dan doesn't even come close to the genius of Pink Floyd!
@@detroitlady7201nuts.
@@detroitlady7201 Grew tired of PF in high school. Have Meddle and Animals on vinyl still. Want 'em? I'll give them away for free.
I think if you're honest you'll admit you love Steely way way more than The Beatles.
I wish “The Bear” made it on this album too.
“Downer Surrealism” the best description I’ve heard of them by Zappa
My favorite song is "In Germany Before the War" by Randal Stewart Newman. Can't wait for the Randal iceberg.
I think you were channelling me when you recorded this review!
Gaucho is one of those great albums that needs to be listened to in its entirety
I am like others, Steely Dan fills much of music listening bandwidth the older I get. For decades I listened to all of Steely Dan's most popular songs. However, as I have more time to enjoy the other songs I find them as impressive as their biggest hits. I always like Aja, the song, now I absolutely love it. Time out Mind, as controversial as it is, is still an amazing song. Third World Man is almost prophetic. My Old School. I could go on. The "Lost Steely Dan" album that proceeded "Gaucho" was as retold in "Night Fly" was lost by a maintenance engineer and once Donald Fagan was told, he simply turned around and walked out of the studio. Can you imagine? The music that was lost will never be heard, what a loss. Well, some good news, The Second Arrangement (at least a version without lyrics) has finally been found and one can only imagine and hope that Donald decides to add his magic to it.
If Gaucho is so good, why isn't there a Gaucho 2? Huh? Oh, Donald Fagen's Nightfly? Yeah, okay, maybe Gaucho *is* so good
I'm happy that I can now add another Dan video into my Dan binging. Thanks, Dingus!
If gaucho is so good, why is it not the soundtrack to a hit movie titled “you gotta walk it like you talk it (or you’ll lose that beat)?
Thank you for confirming something I've been saying for years; always been my favourite album and the title track the best song on it. Don't really care what the lyrics mean; I just love to sing along to the whole masterpiece that is Gaucho!
I'll definitely give this video a 'like'.
With "Glamour Profession" being appreciated because, it's my personal favorite song by Steely Dan.
However, the breakdown/explained opinion for the rest of the "Gaucho" album is an added bonus.
Not sure if Carlton's work on "Third World Man" exceeds his "Kid Charlemange" solo.
What percentage of Steely Dan songs are drug-related/influenced?
@@bluegregory6239 73%
Honestly, having listened through Steely Dan's discography dozens of times, all of their live performances, and a number of their bootlegs/demos, my favorite album, the one I keep coming back to, is Two Against Nature, which I did not expect at all. Gaucho is up there for sure, but something about that album... every song is perfect, and it's just such a fantastic return to form. Almost Gothic, Jack of Speed, What a Shame About Me, Negative Girl, they're all so good, and that album has my most played Dan songs on it by quite a long shot. Anyway, just wanted to put that opinion out there, since I think it's lumped in with Everything Must Go (although even that album, their worst in my opinion, has some bangers) and it doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Also that live performance of it is fantastic too.
God bless you for making steely Dan content so that die hard gen z steely Dan fans like myself have something to comfort ourselves with while mourning the past nature of the days of steely dan
Wow the first channel to make good and funny steely Dan videos
Cool analysis, great sense of humor. Thanks!
Your are just right.....After 40 years I still revisit this regularly.
My most listened to album.
Vinyl...half speed vinyl...cd...dvd audio 5.1....and my favourite...sacd surround....and finally hd streaming.
Go .go go
When this album came out I was working as a waiter at a place in NYC. During our shift we would sneak out for some fine Colombian and Finlandia 5:11 bloody Mary’s. And have this epic LP playing in the background. Have always felt this was one of the best sounding of all time.
Along with Aja.
100 per cent agree and really good commentary and Gaucho my all time favourite song
While we're on the topic of under-rated Steely Dan, I just listened carefully for the first time to the title and final track of Everything Must Go. It's incredible - one of those SD tracks that have endless genius details that require repeated listenings. As far as ending an album and a career in a brilliant and perfect way, this track fits nicely in that category alongside the Abbey Road medley. What are some other great career finales?? I mean, Bach's Art of Fugue and Mozart's Requiem, but what other rock artists have tremendous "series finales"?
Such a great song. Not a fan of the entire album, but that song is absolutely perfect. I might mention Roxy Music? True To Life with one final, sumptuously romantic instrumental (Tara) tacked on as a farewell.
The gloves are off... Meet me at midnight at Mr Chow's, where I shall explain with my fists that Aja is the superior album.
May I offer you both some Szechuan dumplings when the deal is done?
@@GlennErikMathisen Only if afterwards, we can make some calls from my car.
@@ElectronicWitchcrafthmmm. Ok but make it quick then. I'm off to Barbados just for the ride tomorrow.
@@GlennErikMathisen Aaahh the glamour profession.
@@ElectronicWitchcraft Man! I Love this song!
It’s their third best album. Royal Scam, Aja and then Gaucho.
Man, this was really good. I was a major Steely Dan fan in the 70s. I graduated high school in 1980, so I had no idea there was a followup to Aja. Dammm- So there’s a new album to check out. Nice.
Number of times I’ve regretted loading this album: 0. I have a Dan playlist that is just Aja and Gaucho. I saw one of the duo’s last reunion tours in NYC at the Beacon. Aja in chrono order the first night (followed by whatever they felt like playing), then Gaucho the next night. Ecstasy.
I saw a concert in Vancouver where Keith Jarret walked off the stage after someone yelled.
I would say that was a snowflake move.
Interesting choice, a case can definitely be made. Regardless of whether you agree or not, there are several well-established facts about the band named after a portable boyfriend. 1) I find that almost all of Steely Dan's music holds up extremely well in the long run. 2) Becker and Fagen were/are MONSTER musicians. 3) There is no other band quite like them. 4) Even if you disagree, anyone with functioning ears that can match pitch and keep a beat would agree that at the minimum this album should be in everyone's top 50 list. If you're doing the desert island thing and you can bring only 30 albums, Gaucho is probably one of two Steely Dan discs I would bring along with Aja. Now some people have really distinct and specific tastes in music, the heart wants what the heart wants at the end of it. So there is a certain amount of lightning in a bottle that the band captured which is difficult to argue against. Oddly and specifically, I have to say that my #1 is Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation. After that, man I can't justify the rest of the top 10 until i get to the Goreckyj Symphony #3 (5) Sorrowful Songs and Arvo Part (6) shortly next. I confess that I get into a few late Beatles: Revolver, (#7) White Album (#8), Abbey Road, (#9) a couple U2s, Joshua Tree (#3) and Unforgettable Fire (#4), maybe Vertigo (10). NIN's the Fragile is probably #2. There's something enduring about Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, maybe #11 or so. Then maybe a little Shoegaze, probably Ride's Nowhere (12) and Galaxie 500's On Fire (13). Then I start getting into the Deep Techno, probably Luigi Tozzi's Cohuatl (15). Maybe a little Mazzy Star (19). Then I'd go all 3 Portishead records (16,17, 18). The top 20 is pretty well spoken for, indisputably at the least I'm going with Gaucho at #14. Somewhere around #20 I'd put the Britten War Requiem, about #21, the Mozart Requiem, around #22 the Verdi Requiem. For some reason all the stuff I'm listing holds up to repeated listens, give them a second try. About 23 probably a little pop-punk, maybe some Alice, more NIN- Pretty Hate Machine around #26.....for some Zest maybe a little Death Grips. Then I'd say prepared piano by Cage, Cowell, a few others. Probably the Beethoven #9, a little Wagner- Parsifal. .....Definitely Aja before we get to 30, probably #28. About 29, 30 I'd sneak in some Unloved. About 32 maybe some Eagles, a little Journey. Some Simon and Garfunkel. Probably the order is fairly loose, any cutoff before about 30 albums is unacceptable.
Pound for pound and in respect of the blood (or bone in the case of WB’s complex fracture) sweat and tears shed in its creation, it is their best album, an enduring masterpiece of popular music.
Time out of mind is such a fun song
Aja > Gaucho > The Royal Scam > Pretzel Logic > Can't Buy a Thrill > Two Against Nature > Countdown to Ecstasy > Katy Lied.
Yep, fully agree... And, I'm not even that much of a fan of their albums, but I *REALLY* love this one! I too feel the arrangements and compositions are, yes, basically perfect. The sound is reference quality too. Pretending to be an Audiophile for over 40 years, I would have to say that this album as a 'normal' release is easily of Demo quality.
I enjoyed this vid so much I'm thinking of cracking open the Cuervo Gold and going skating. Cheers from London
Hey bee-itch, thanks a lot for pointing out that drop-out at 1.20... the song will never be the same again. Anyway, a life-long Dan-fan here who has just discovered your channel. Fantastic documentary, I'm with you 90% on your assessment brother.
Just to put it here in writing. Glamour Profession it's NOT just four chords.
Though I did when I was younger (19?) I don’t hear creeper on Hey Nineteen. I hear aging and I dare say maturity. I hear appreciating the “beauty” of a young woman, but the realization that they’ve nothing in common and it’s best just to watch and enjoy the view.
yes! he's at a string club just spending his $ and vibing
This song represents that he was a senior in college at the time "I was a dandy Gamma Khi" frat guy. Sweet things from Boston (freshman girls at the age of 18 or 19) Donald had already out-grown them intellectually by 22 or 23.
Gosh, I loved this review. Simply perfection.
Absolutely my favorite album of all time. Great video.
John Huston....pronounced like the city, "Houston"...."Hyu-stun"....Fantastic Dan videos.....you've produced Gems....
Also, I know people like to classify the song “Glamour Profession” as “disco“, but I’d like to argue that it’s really more of a “world lounge” style (before world lounge even existed). People also like to bag on Glamour Profession for being “yacht rock”, but that was before yacht rock ever existed, so if one invents the genre, it can’t really be classified that way, can it?
Harmonically, it’s so far ahead of its time that it STILL sounds futuristic over 50 years after it was released. The chord changes are just otherworldly and complex, yet still sound somehow. “repetitive“ to the untrained ear.
Did you mean “Time Out of Mind” for the Yacht Rock comment? Because you said Glamour Profession twice.
@@nlmnyc no, I absolutely meant Glamour Profession.
First time hearing this (Glamour Prof) I declared "Steely Dan has gone disco!" and swore them off. For a week or two maybe. But Gaucho was not the album that reeled me back in...save for "Hey 19" this album had no allure to me = but because this album/cassette was omni-present, I grew to like Babylon Sisters and Third World Man but felt everything else far below all of their previous albums and songs. Seeing many comments here praising "My Rival" -- what am I missing here?
Always thought this too! This is a perfect album and Glamour Profession is the greatest piece of work probably ever
'Glamour Profession' is the best encapsulation of that late 70s-early 80s cocaine era.
It’s so good man, I can’t get enough of it
I met Larry Carlton in Paris. I wondered why he didn't switch to a different instrument. He had learned everything there was to learn on the guitar. As for Gaucho, it arrived during a period of great teenage angst. I was suffering badly from bullies, felt like a Third World Man inside my own life, disembodied and disinterested. I wore out the grooves. Johnny's playroom is a bunker filled with sand. Johnny had war instead of joy for a childhood. I know how Johnny feels. Three friends dead, over the ensuing years, one from abuse by hippie-priest Paul Shanley.
I feel gaucho is massively underrated. It’s actually my favourite
I just listened to Gaucho yesterday !! The title song represents Steely Dan’s finest songwriting ever and yes the album is their best ( not Aja as everyone says) and might be one of the top albums ever indeed. I Don t have the heart to say The Best but close
Outstanding work Dingus.You have to do some more.
As a life long die hard Dan fan ,who remembers where I was when at age 11 I first heard FM I will totally agree with your resounding assessment!
A close second to AJA. I the aliens ever showed up here to destroy us, I'd send the the AJA title track. They'd pause for a few minutes. Then we'd hear "Perhaps we were a bit hasty. Can we hear some more of that?" Then I'd sent them Home At Last, and soon they'd start solving all of our big problems and welcoming us to their civilizations.
This video, like all dingus videos, is the finest content on TH-cam.
I’m a musician. I play music from the 40s to current songs. Above and beyond, it’s Steely Dan that requires the most outta me to “get right”. I make all my own Backing tracks for my piano solo gigs. All the background vocals etc. transcribing the tracks and mixing. It’s DIFFICULT. The songwriting is so over the top brilliant, performing Steely Dan is a taste of heaven. Above and beyond my favorite collection of music ever made and my favorite concert experience too. If Donald Fagan dies before me, he will take a part of me with him.
Totalmente de acuerdo!, este álbum es una obra maestra., saludos, buen video
While I agree with you that Gaucho is probably the best Steely Dan album except when compared with Aja and The Royal Scam I find it actually hilarious to place "Haitian Divorce" as number 57 and "Ricky Don't loose that number" way down the list... Those are extremely well written from a songwriters perspective and also arranged and produced flawlessly
I love Haitian Divorce. Its fun. The song that never goes away for me is "The Fez". Its quintessential SD.
@@kalidescopemind1dude, I LOVE the Fez 🤣
Hatian Divorce....the first SD tune rhat REALLY haunted me at about age 14. Love it still and everything else of course is made of gold too. I seldom hear anyone profess their love for "Only a Fool Woukd Say That"....another that really gets in my head.
@@joelabbe6185 no doubt, Haitian divorce is CRAZY good !!! LOVE IT
@@boot_leg_ramen_noodle one of those tunes rhat progresses to "zone-out" territory. I always loved the instrumental "outro"....when it changes key and continues to fade out I think was a brilliant move on their part. Brings the reggae vibe into REALLY happy space....
And the fidelity of that recording!!! (Like all their others) is scrumptious! Makes me love the Hi-Fi kit and listening room all the more, despite some of it being 40 years old. ( Bowers and Wilkins DM7 MkII's) driven by SAE separate amplifiers...
I love this style of video where a person comedically gushes about their favorite thing, like an album or movie. While Aja pulls a little bit further on my list of duo era Steely Dan, Gaucho is a technical and modern musical masterpiece. It's a shame songs like The Bear and Second Arrangement didn't make it on the track list, though.
Glamour Profession could very well be my favorite Steely Dan song. Other competing songs are Peg, Janie Runaway, Babylon Sisters, My Old School, Brooklyn, Hey Nineteen........ But to have the first three tracks on an album be amongst your favorites in a band's entire catalogue speaks volumes about the quality of the album. Gaucho and Aja will always be my two favorites. I like to think of them as a trilogy with The Nightfly, which is also a masterpiece.
I am in my 60s and have been a rabid devotee of Don and Walter's approach to music, and I still can't pick a favorite album, because every second that goes by, everything changes and as a part of everything, my feelings are changing as well, and my feelings are what determines how i hear the music, To be honest '"de gustibus non est disputandum". so you are correct with your take on Gaucho.
I know a bunch of short piers you can take long walks on.
Great vid! Never seen your vids till now gonna check out your ice berg vids on Steely Dan etc!
I've listened to Gaucho so many times that I sometimes dream about it. I once had a dream that I had a young son named Johnny who tragically died seven years ago. He was the first known case of a devastating disease that would go on to decimate 99.9% of the world population (for context, I recently read The Stand by Stephen King and I must have had global apocalypse on my mind). Anyways, in the dream, I was one of the only survivors. I enter my old house and creep upstairs towards Johnny's vacant playroom, where it all began. I open the door and my heart almost stops at what I see. "My god," I whisper, frozen in shock. The entire room is filled, filled with sand. In the center of the room is a heap of sand with some of Johnny's old toys peeking out, but there is something else too. Something white and worn. I brush the sand away and see that it is a small human skull. A wave of dread washes over me, and I know at once that I need to leave this room. Outside the little window of Johnny's playroom, the fireworks show has begun. It is July 4th, 2042, the day Johnny got sick. But...that can't be right. Curiosity gets the best of me as I peer down through the window over the suburban street. I see the neighbors running out from their brightly lit houses, screaming and pointing delightedly at the night sky. Among them is my smiling wife carrying Johnny's newborn sister. My dead wife. I begin to panic. I turn away from the window. I have to leave this house. But the sand...the sand is rising all around me! Soon I am wading through the stuff, desperately clawing my way towards the door to Johnny's playroom. I am too late. As I watch the tiny gap near the top of the door close shut, I know this is the end for me. The last thing I hear is Johnny's distant laughter. And my dying thought: an old saying I once heard from a leading epidemiologist during the onset of the first major outbreaks, some seven years ago. "E l'era del terzo mondo." I never took the time to learn what it meant. At the time, I didn't want to know. But now, in my final breath, it seemed all too clear to me.
TLDR: Gaucho is goated it will change your damn worldview man
Google translate says that phrase means “and the third world era” , though that could mean something that flows a bit better
Gaucho and Aja are probably my favorite 2 albums ever. Both fantastic!
It's an album that, once you know the backstory, almost shouldn't exist. So much of what was intended got ruined by a ham-fisted engineer. Then there were the legal issues playing out.. But we all know of that. That this album came out as good as it did when you know all that makes it even more special. Best Album Ever Made? Even for a Steely Dan fan like myself, that's a tough one for me. I'm a bit biased when it comes to favourite Steely Dan album though. It's probably Royal Scam, in large part due to how delicious a duo Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie are. Those two underpinning the complex melodic, compositional, chordal and lyrical ideas of Becker and Fagen are some musical moments we're unlikely ever to experience again. Gaucho and Aja are tied as second place, perhaps with Aja edging out Gaucho very slightly due to its lack of a drum machine.
Nothing wrong with Gaucho, but you have to admit that every SD or DF song/album is a masterpiece in and of itself. Simply perfection
No argument here.
I love Gaucho’s clean yet spaced out sound and feel it was the ultimate evolution of their sound.
So true, though Gaucho is my fav
Maybe a little better than average but not much more. And yes, I have 15,000 other albums.
The Supertramp snippet fvcking kills me
I coulda swore "Were You Blind That Day?" came from the Aja sessions, as per Larry C.
You are correct
Hmmm. I thought Larry stated the "Were You Blind That Day/Third World Man" came to be at the end of The Royal Scam sessions. There's a short video clip here, on good ol' fashion You Tube, where he states such. I've seen it MANY times.
BolsaChicaRadio
Thank you forever for saying what I have been telling everyone since I first heard Gaucho - it is the most perfect album of any genre that I have ever heard. I still listen to it and am still captivated every time. Thank you again - it is wonderful to hear that someone else feels like you do.
Listened to Aja. I thought it was solid. Listened to Gaucho and I was blown away after the first listen.
Dingus for President!
Butt seriously😉I really enjoyed your review! The perfect mixture of seriousness and sarcasm.
Gaucho truly is an amazing album, and it does feel like the pinnacle of their artistry laced with a sad twinge of it feeling like it was the beginning of the end.
I know many Dan-heads like to gush over the accidentally deleted song “the second arrangement“, but from the outtakes I’ve heard from it, I actually prefer another song that didn’t make it onto the record called Kulee Baba, which to me is a much better song, and one that I wish would’ve made it onto Gaucho.
👍🏼🎸🎹🎼❤️😎
This is so weird, geeky, and strange. I love it! I'm subscribing.
Although Gaucho is not my favorite, it is by far the best sounding CD played on my stereo system. It's so good, you'd swear the band was playing in person in the listening area.
How I wish more individuals mixing and recording for THE LISTENER would "get" this in the industry.
I won't debate the quality of this album, or any of their albums. They were always too intelligent for modern radio anyway.
The Pulp Fiction lyrics and the wonderful fretwork of Rick Derringer is worth the price of admission. Again, too smart for Jughead programmers of Radio to wrap their heads around. I'm glad that you enjoy this spectacular album as much I have.
Just the song Gaucho alone is worth it, my fav off that whole album
Nice! BTW - The filmmaker of The Maltese Falcon's name is pronounced John Houston (Like the city in East Texas - Not the Street in lower NYC.)
This popped in my feed because I just finished listening to Gaucho for the 4000th time. Not in a row, but I listen to SD A LOT. I honestly can't say I dislike anything this band has produced over the years.
I agree. Glamour Profession is one of the greatest songs ever recorded
I whole-heartedly agree that "Gaucho" by "Steely Dan" is the best album ever made.
it's common knowledge and proven fact, even William McKinley said so. (look it up, it's true)
The late, assassinated President William McKinley?
Everyone talks "The Bear" and "Second Arrangement" but I really dig "Kind Spirit" much more. Love all their stuff but will go with "Your Gold Teeth" and "Two Against Nature" as the ones that get me moving the most and both have musical breaks mid song that are out of this world.
The hardest part by Allison Moorer is considered the greatest album ever made
I didn’t realise third world man was a scam left over but now you say it I can’t explain how much sense that makes.
Great video. Can’t agree with you about my rival… but generally I’m so glad to hear someone lavish praise on this amazing album.
Glamour Profession sounds like something you'd hear playing in a mall in one of those liminal spaces videos. And I mean that in the most positive way possible.
I love your use of stock images in your videos.
The decisions about what to include and what to leave off of _Gaucho_ were probably determined more by Walter Becker's infirmity than anything else. How else can one explain leaving tracks like "The Bear" and "Kulee Baba" out but including "Third World Man?"
Ending _Gaucho_ with "Third World Man" instead of "Heartbreak Souvenir" was fitting: like the 1970s Steely Dan, _Gaucho_ ends with a whimper and leaves the listener wondering what went wrong and what could have been.
Hurrah! Someone else thinks Gaucho is brilliant. I love them all, but Gaucho always hit my sweet spot. Not sure why many Dan fans write it off? I even heard Rick Beato refer to it as: a sloppily tossed together album that was merely made to fulfil contractual agreements!! Rick Beato? Yes. He said exactly that. It's a sublime album. Lyrically my favourite. The tales are of the highest order: Glamour Profession, Babylon Sisters, Gaucho, Third World Man, My Rival. And one can hardly say that the musicianship is sub par. The first song on the album that completely won me over was "My Rival". Thanks for the review 😉
I adore Gaucho. As for it being criticized as artificial, well, that's too priceless for words. It was intentionally artificial sounding. That's SD's brilliance. The apparent superficiality is total musical satire of that wealthy, spoiled west coast scene; slick on the surface, but with little substance underneath.
Exactly. This band never did anything unintentionally.
I like Gaucho but there's no way it's better than Aja and The Royal Scam
I love your videos. I would like to see some "Morph the cat" video. Greattings from Argentina.
I was surprised with how good Morph the Cat was. Have not heard in over a year and will probably listen to it tonight>>> "H-Gang" and "That's What I Do' just about as good as anything Fagen has wrote.
@@xaspirate8060 To me, his best solo album.
@@PanSemSousa I'm glad that you mentioned that album -- I did listen to "Morph the Cat" last night and it sounded great. I don't think I will wait another year to listen to it again.
Gaucho is about a woman and 2 men. The narrator’s wife has brought this gay South American cowboy home and the husband is not thrilled about it. HE is wearing his wife’s clothes after all and SHE wants HIM to sleep over. But at the same time, the husband feels bad for him, because when he drops him off at the freeway, he tells him to “Try again tomorrow.” It would make no sense if it was about 3 men. If the narrator was already married to a man, it would not be noticeable to anyone that the Gaucho was wearing his wives clothes. It would be a guy wearing a guy’s clothes and no big deal at all. No one would even notice and nobody in the Custerdome would care because he was ALREADY married to a man.
10:21 "Yeah my humor is dark. *RACISM*". Anything that might make the so-callled SJWs throw a temper tantrum is gold to me